Page:The World's Parliament of Religions Vol 1.djvu/228

 CHAPTER IV. THE VARIOUS ESTIMATES OF THE IMPORTANCE OF RELIGION. IN a second day paper M. N. D'vivedi expounded religion according to Hinduism as consisting essentially in a rational demonstration of the universe, serving as the basis of a practi- cal system of ethical rules ; a philosophic explanation of the cosmos, which shows at once the why and wherefore of exist- ence, provides the foundation of natural ethics, and by showing to man the highest ideal of happiness realizable, supplies the means of satisfying the emotional part of our nature. A Christian observer's view of the general character of religion among the Hindus, its keen and pathetic search after a salvation to be wrought by man, its faith in man's likeness to the Divine, and its hope of reunion with the source of all being, was set forth in a third-day paper by the Rev. T. E. Slater. On the ninth day the Hindu monk and scholar, Swami Vivekananda, dealt specially and at length with Hinduism as a religion, setting forth its faith in the absolute supernatural character of Vedic revelation, its hope in God as manifested to man in spiritual experience, its pursuit of union with God and of perfection through such union, and the breadth of human sympathy created by its faith in God. The Buddhist sense of religion, its nature and importance as a way of life, and the emphasis it puts upon ethics and humanity, H. Dharmapala set forth in an eighth-day paper; and again, on the sixteenth day, Mr. Dharmapala expounded those principles of Buddhism which create a peculiar contrast with Christianity, and enforce the law of inevitable results (Karma), instead of permitting man to seek easy deliverance through an externally provided redemption. In an eleventh-day paper Rev. Zitsuzen Ashitsu portrayed